🤔 Non-Upwork Client Testimonials

[hidemi-takagi]

This topic is meant to be sent to other freelancers but if anyone from Upwork has an opinion - I would love to hear it.

I received a top-rated freelancer status about 3 years ago and managed to keep it for the past few years since and today I received Upwork "Strengthen your profile with non-Upwork client testimonials" mail which I assume quite a lot of freelancers gets now as the feature rolls out and you can see this option in your profile.

I have mixed feelings about it and wanted to hear what other freelancers think about this feature.

On the good side, I totally agree that it is a cool feature to have on your profile as I work very hard to help my clients get Google feedbacks to their businesses and I know the value of such feedbacks but the difference here is that I have to "ask" one of my clients to create a feedback via email invitation (which of course, I can soften the issue with a chat with the client prior to that mail to let them know about it) but I do feel a bit strange to "ask" clients to do such a thing from one important issue which is my client privacy since I have no ideas what do Upwork will request from my client to "verify" -- since the mail states "The testimonial will display on your profile once it’s verified by Upwork."

Besides the fact that it might be a bit troublesome to a client to write a feedback -- but that might not be too hard to do, I am worried that Upwork process of "verification" of that feedback might invade my client privacy or maybe they will be requested to "prove" something which will also might invade their personal or business privacy.

Does anyone know in detail what kind of information Upwork will require from a non-upwork client for the verification process and what kind of "hoops" the client has to go through in terms of back and forth communication with Upwork verification team?  

I deal with my clients always with care about their feelings and pay a lot of attention to make sure their privacy is well kept, and I never before asked a client for  "assistance" to help me in my career - therefore, before I do any move such as request them to enroll in some verification process, I want to make sure it will not be "painful" or even bothersome in any way and most of all, will not invade their privacy (personal or business).  

Any thoughts about this or did anyone went through the process and know what did their client has to go through to get that testimonial process complete?

lastly - I am wondering if anyone knows if this is now a "mandatory" requirement to keep a top-rated status or it is just an extra feature and a top-rated status is relying solely on Upwork clients feedbacks?

[sourav_paul97]

Thank you so much for informing me.

[cutshaw-debbie]

I am trying to request a testimonial from a client that does not have a LinkedIn account. Is there a way to obtain the instructions so that I can forward it to my client? Thanks! Debbie

[BojanS]

Hi Debbie,

Unfortunately, they need to have a LinkedIn profile in order for you to request a testimonial from them.

Thank you!

[billpage]

"Unfortunately, they need to have a LinkedIn profile in order for you to request a testimonial from them"

Ouch! That is a nasty practice. I deal with many overseas clients that do not use LinkedIn or many other more western-centric social media platforms and so this practice really does penalize us. What's more, many of us have already received endorsements well before joining Upwork, and to go and ask those people again, and some after many years is not a really acceptable practice.

Also, unfortunately some of my endorsers are no longer with us, but that should not discredit the value of the endorsement or the work done to earn it.

There needs to be a better way to add 'Unverified' Endorsements maybe under another section.

See attached for endorsements I have received outside of Upwork. Some from LinkedIn and some from other sources, and all are true. I would love to be able to add these for people to at least make up their own mind on the validity as after all, work samples themselves assist in this process.

[BojanS]

Thanks for your feedback, Bill. You can still use your profile overview or portfolio section to include endorsements and testimonials from people you worked with outside of Upwork. Make sure not to share any private or contact information.

[jimmy-johns]

TBH, this is why I don't agree with UpWork even including Testimonials or Reviews outside of their platform. You either have to do a decent amount of work to prove the work was done and they are a legit business, etc or people will just game the system to get a bunch of good reviews. I mean I have a lot of friends and even friends who have businesses, I can guarantee a lot of them would give me a review if I asked them to. 

I hope they decide to not use these testimonials/reviews in the future, but I think they desire to gather outside business information that has been pretty clear for some time now. 

[tare45]

Hello, did Upwork remove the non Upwork client testimonial feature from the platform ?

[AleksandarD]

Hi Tarelayefa,

I checked but couldn't replicate the issue as the Testimonials section was showing on the profile. Could you please try clearing your cache and cookies or using a different browser? Let us know if the issue persists so that we can assist you further.

Thank you.

[tare45]

It’s working fine now !! Thank you.

[tlsanders]

---

Hidemi T wrote:

Hi Valeria,

Thank you for your reply.

If the process is not shared and I am not aware of what will be asked from the client to provide in terms of their private or business information, don't you think it will cause any freelancer great hesitation to do go through the process as it might create an uncomfortable situation to their clients?

It certainly should. Upwork has consistently shown horrible judgment with a wide variety of "features" that undermine our professionalism with clients (putting cartoon flames on our profiles, sending clients unsolicited updates about what we're doing with OTHER clients, sending poorly-worded reminders that make it appear the client or freelancer is harassing the other, when in fact it's Upwork generated, just to name a few). There are no circumstances under which I would trust them to get involved in a relationship with an outside client and not inconvenience the client and/or make me look bad.

[alainmuhanano]

Hi,

What about clients who don't have a linkedinaccount ? I noticed I couldn't send a testimonial request to a client without filling up their linkedinprodile link. 

Thank you 

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Alain,

Yes your clients will need to have a Linkedin profile so that you can send them a request. Thank you.

[alainmuhanano]

Not everyone has a linkedin account and mostly if a client isn't a upwork member it is quiet difficult to have them create a linkedin account. I also have few clients who are upwork members but have no linkedin account. 

[alainmuhanano]

Another quick question,

Is it possible to send client a link for a testimonial request ?

Some clients not receiving  the emails 

[g_vasilevski]

Hi Alain,

At the moment clients can receive the request only via email. Please make sure that you have the correct email address and ask your client/s to check their junk and spam folders as well. Thank you.

[jmoshack]

Hi Goran,

I'd like to join one of Hidemi's questions I haven't found the answer here or in the other thread mentioned in this topic below.

So does this procedure with the testimonials mandatory for Top-raters to save their status?

The issue I don't work with clients outside of Upwork for the last years. All their feedbacks are also here in my profile.  What should I do in this situation?

Thanks!

[BojanS]

Hi Julia, 

Thank you for this question. No, Testimonials aren't one of the requirements for receiving or maintaining Top Rated status. You can check the requirement here.

Thank you!

[jmoshack]

Thank you, Bojan!

[tryambak]

This is my view

This new feature is a good marketing tools for Upwork to draw our non-upwork clients to the Upwork eco-system. This is a solid lead generation technique.

Once the client is in the system, they will get tempted to post jobs and some one from some wierd place will win the contract with a bid with less than the price of a burger.

Not to mention that Upwork doesn't disclose how they will use our "NON-UPWORK" client information other than verifying testimonials.

I am sorry to be harsh but this is what I think it is.

Cheers

TC

[jmoshack]

The only advantage for freelancers to use the testimonials as far as I see it's theoretically can make it easier to start for new freelancers (who has no projects and feedbacks on Upwork yet) 

The last phrase of the letter "To prove your top-talent status, we recommend requesting at least 5 client testimonials" is confusing. But as the procedure is not mandatory I see no advantages for freelancers in this feature. 

[juliework6]

Yes, Tryambak! I agree! It's a fishing expedition for Upwork to draw in our separate clients and get them to drink the Kool-Aid and find someone cheaper than me!

There's just no benefit to any seasoned freelancers who already have plenty of feedback.

[tryambak]

Could Upwork clarify in exactly what ways the "CLIENT INFORMATION" that we put in will be used.

Can Upwork confirmt that this information will not be used for any process other than authentication?

If no, what other specific purposes will the information be used for?

A clarity and disclosure on this is required

Regards

[JoanneP]

Hi Tryambak,

Please know that Upwork doesn't share any information with any third-parties. The information you share with us is held securely and solely for the purpose of verification/authentication. Thanks.

[pushingpixels]

I agree with Tryambak.
I won’t be doing this because I already ask my non Upwork clients to review me on Facebook and/or Google.
I’d also be nervous it would open the gates for Upwork to invite them to their platform, showing them other prospects. Or trying to get them to hire us through Upwork so it will break rules if we are paid outside of Upwork. I’d hope it wouldn’t work that way, but they are a business.

[petra_r]

---

Lindsey M wrote:
Or trying to get them to hire us through Upwork so it will break rules if we are paid outside of Upwork.

---

I won't be doing it either but *this* is not a factor. You can work directly with clients you first met outside of Upwork directly at any time, even if you and that client have worked together on Upwork.

In other words, if you know a client prior to them coming to Upwork, you can always work directly with them.

[filmgeekspro]

A client of mine was sent an ad by Upwork to hire freelancers. Guess how they got her contact? I shared it with them and they never approved any of my endorsements.

[filmgeekspro]

What kind of information do you really look for? I have had clients of mine sent in testimonials but they've all been disapproved. I provided the link to their LinkedIn profiles. It is good that Upwork is transparent with freelancers in this matter. If you won't approve testimonials why make us request it? If you have certain information you need our clients to give then make it known. Why should we keep sending requests that keep getting disapproved??

[JoanneP]

Hi Leo,

We're sorry for the delay in replying to your post. To ensure trust and quality of our marketplace, we can only approve testimonials from clients where we have sufficient evidence that the contact information is valid. In this case, we may not have been able to find sufficient information. You can try requesting another from a different client.

[financemark]

NEVER give your clients private email/Linked-In or other contact information to ANYONE unless:

1. You have their permission,

2. You know precisely how the information will be used,

3. You know that you're doing so does not exclusivley benefit everyone but you.

My view (3.5.2020) is:

-that UW is requesting contact email and contact LI Profile.

-several freelancers have complained that their clients have not received adequate requests from UW, as UW promised.

Think about it: does UW have your best interest in mind when asking you to share your clients' private contact information with them?  Will you client be suddenly overwhelmed with unwanted solications from cheap workers?  Will UW upsell your client on UW services? Will UW use your clients information for their own Data Mining purposes?  Will UW sell your clients' contact information?

If any of above is yes, will UW pay you for the access that you are providing?  Answer: No.

DONT DO THIS PEOPLE --- BAD IDEA!

[elizabeth-cohen]

I just received an email to say a testimonial from my last boss was not approved. I don't understand why.

[kochubei_valeria]

Sorry to hear the testimonial you requested wasn’t approved, Elizabeth.

Testimonials involving non-Upwork clients must be verified through our systems to check the validity of the review. If for any reason we are not able to validate it, unfortunately we are not able to publish the review. We won’t be able to share the details of our process. Thanks for your understanding.

[juliework6]

This is so ridiculous. Upwork strikes again with their crazy antics! 

[elizabeth-cohen]

Yes, it would help if they could tell you the reason. I'm wondering if it's because the LinkedIn profile was created the same day as the testimonial but that's because he didn't have a LinkedIn profile and made one specially so he could write me a testimonial!

[juliework6]

"We won't be able to share the details of the process." 

In other words, Upwork does secret things without any accountability in order to grab up as many of our non-Upwork clients as possible without actually providing us any benefits and charging us extra for it! 

I still lament the day it changed from oDesk..... Unfortunately even with its terrible business practices, I don't really have a choice but to stay with them. 😞

Once you're in "the family" (as in, the mob) it's hard to get out! 

[tryambak]

I have always found Upwork's policies to be arm twisting..  But as   Julie W  said. There is no other option. It's a monopoly business and that's why Upwork is armtwisting. And they are quite blatent about it.

It's essential and integral part of business strategy to incorporate user feedback. Many companies in the past had such monopoly. Take for example Triumph motorcycles. Once the leader of British MC industry having sole monopoly and utter disregard of user feedback. And then came HONDA. We call know what followed. Utter devastation. 

I am just afraid of the same here. 

Cheers 

Tc

[tryambak]

It's quite an astonishing thing that 99% of whatever process we discuss about Upwork there is always a fog surrounding it. It's top secrect and cannot be explained or detailed.  From a freelancer POV, transperency on part of Upwork is very very poor.

Yet Upwork expects us to be transperent in everything! 

That's sort of a paraddox, atleast to me. 

Cheers

[kcclicks]

Hi Valeria,

I feel that the procedure should be transparent so that we can get to know why the testimonial isn't approved.

Even I didn't want to share my client's details but as per the procedure, I did it. If we are putting trust on Upwork, then why can't you?

- Kishan C.

[cristy_aquilyn]

Hi Valeria,

I may have missed any discussion since I cannot read all in the thread due to schedule but is it possible to know what is the possible reason why a testimonial is not approved? Given the details and confirmed by clients since of course, I ask for their confirmation first and active email address to use before submitting a request for a testimonial. I just don't get it.

I received this response and cannot even email Upwork directly since it is a do not reply mail.

"...we can only approve testimonials from clients where we have sufficient evidence that the contact information is valid..."

The client is willing and happy to give me a testimonial, and it is hard to tell the client that the testimonial submitted is not approved because the contact information that is given and confirmed by them "has no sufficient evidence" to be valid.

- Cristy

[g_vasilevski]

Thanks for your question, Maria. To ensure trust and quality of our marketplace, we can only approve testimonials from clients where we have sufficient evidence that the contact information is valid. In this case, we may not have been able to find sufficient information. You can try requesting another from a different client.

[filmgeekspro]

How do you validate these information? And why do you take advantage of the information we give you about our clients? A client of mine I sent a request to complained about Upwork sending her an ad to hire freelancers. This was before you rejected her endorsement of me. Your system is not transparent. I sure won't be sending any more requests. Thank you very much!